The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-06-18
GOOD NEWS FOR SETTLERS.
Tho People. ,. Right. so.ly rro.soted ,,

- =. = 7.
Tho Peoples Rights Nobiy Protccted b,
em"orat'o A"m'n"tra"on'
my 'cs'''cnt ins.ruc''ons 10 sec
,u."y '.a'''ar nave pee" ooeyed' nno
,"c sre'' inuemhity pel's OF PUBIC
'"nu a'o sooh 10 DC 'hrowh open 10 tht
se.,,e.. S..,s, ,s.,, ~ was 'ne a.'emPt 10 ror
o".,o'n .,. " h,',er on ms i"ri' 'hat o'recc-
w ''ooa, "..e'''o', W '',c eA'
% u,"s'o,' VI se''iers from these DEUS
Aney ,'a, oeeh shut ont, not by law
oo' oy '"e "c''on Oh Executive ON
GERS VINO we're anxious 10 serve the
Sso"' '"ho grant corporations. In MS
ie''er .oncernihg the uuiiiord Miller
case, .he rresiaent says
rnc %, m'teen &c years .ns large body
tho exclusion Of settlers. for the convenience Of
o corporate beneficiary of the Government, md
TAIN that nc ~ ,h,. osu !, s ,a enrciy GER
he honestly claimed by snid corporation. sucb
o condition of tho public lands should no
pYse,,tvo to rr,as 90 90 rar Us ID .ne result OF
abandoned" '''N'' ''''''N W
The Secretary now shows that four
teen land grant railroad companies
have made selections in the indemnity
belts to the full extent of their rights.
| and that twenty-five have chosen in
those belts all the land that is subject
to selection. The belts have been
closed to the settler for various terms.
ranging from two years to thirty-seyen
years. Under the rulings of the de-
partment no settler can acquire any
rights under any of the general land
laws in any part of the belts so long rs
they remain withdrawn by Executive
order. "Thcrc seems" saws the Sec
retary, "to be no valid reason why
these orders of withdrawal should not be
revoked" They are to be revoked for
the Secretary's plans for restoring the
belts to the public domain have been
approved by the President.
The action taken by MIR. Cleveland
in relation to these lands will be re-
garded hereafter us one of the greatest
achievements of his Administration
For fifteen years broad belts of public
land. covering in the aggregate 1OO,-
100000 acres or II tract equal in extent
to the area of the four Middle States
and the six New England States, have,
by orders of the Interior Department,
been closed to settlers to serve the con-
venicnce of powerful corporations and
to enable these corporations to oppress
those who might try to make homes
within the boundaries. These indem
nifty belts should not be confounded
with the grant belts. In the indcm-
nifty belts the corporations have never
had any rights by law except the right
to select comparatively small nun.
Der of sections in the grant belts. The
boundaries of the indemnity belts were
specified, not in order that the copora-
tions might control the lands included
by them, but simply to restrict the
area within which they were allowed |
to select sections in lieu of those in the
grant belts which had been acquired
by settlers before the passage of the |
granting acts.
And yet the Interior Department
was for years Sc completely under the
control of these corporations that all
Of these indemnity belts-containing
perhaps fifty sections which the cor
porations could never acquire by law
for every one section which they could
lawfully take to make good their losses
in the grant belts were promptly
from settlement by depart
ment officers and have remained closed
until this day. AS we have said, this
was not done simply to suit the con-
and caprices of these heavily
subsidized corporations. The evidence
shows that it was done for another
purpose rs well. Settlers could not 90
lpon these lands and obtain title from
'he Government under the Homestead
md Presumption laws, but they did 90
IN with the hope of making reasonable
erms with the corporations, for, al
jhough the corporations knew that
hey could never legally obtain title to
more than small number of sections
hey undertook to exercise control
war tho xvbolo ,,oo vN,,.,, Ill -. |
,;ol,ol ,,. LII. w,